GOAL Post 2010-2

GOAL Post 2010-2

Legislative Update from Olympia 15 January 2010

CUT-OFF CALENDAR ADOPTED

PRO- AND ANTI-GUN BILLS FILED

NO PUBLIC HEARINGS SCHEDULED -- YET

The legislature adopted the cut-off calendar for the 2010 session. Certain "cut-off" dates are established, dates by which bills must clear certain hurdles or be considered "dead" for the session. Most bills die at the various cut-offs. Remember: "dead" doesn't necessarily mean "dead." Language from a bill can be amended into another bill, or the cut-off can be waived by a majority vote.

Feb 5 Bills must pass their original "policy committee"

Feb 16 Bills must pass their original chamber (House or Senate)

Feb 26 Bills must pass policy committee in the second chamber

Mar 5 Bills must pass second chamber (Senate or House)

Mar 11 Last day of session

HB 2703, by Rep. Dean Takko (D-19), is a shooting range protection bill that would immunize ranges against nuisance lawsuits filed for noise abatement. Similar bills have passed twice in previous years, only to be vetoed by the governor.

HB 2709, by Rep. Matt Shea (R-4) is similar to bills passed in Montana and Tennessee and filed in more than a dozen other states. It effectively says if a firearm is manufactured within Washington and sold within the state, the interstate Commerce Clause does not apply and thus federal firearms laws do not apply. The intent of this bill is NOT to encourage people to go out and build firearms, it's to open the door to a challenge of the federal commerce clause.

HB 2711, by Rep. Matt Shea (R-4), broadly defines the right of self defense, and declares any federal or state law to the contrary to be invalid. The bill also prohibits tracking of firearms and other self defense tools by means of RFID chips and other technical means.

SB 6396, by Sen. Adam Kline (D-37), called by the sponsors the "Aaron Sullivan Public Safety and Police Protection Act," would ban possession of so-called "assault weapons." The term would include a broadly-defined category of BOTH semi-automatic and pump action firearms (rifles, shotguns AND handguns) capable of accepting a detachable or fixed box magazine of more than 10-rounds capacity with certain "evil" features, some parts for these firearms (defined as "conversion kits"), and all magazines with greater than 10-round capacity. If the firearm was possessed prior to the effective date of the act, it could be kept ("grandfathered"), but subject the owner to warrantless "inspections" by the county sheriff and possession is limited to property owned by the possessor and "licensed ranges."

SB 6429, by Senator Dale Brandland (R-42) would lift the current prohibition on use of otherwise lawfully possessed (i.e. registered with the ATF) by law enforcement officers ONLY. Current law allows possession, if legally-possessed under federal law, but prohibits their use BY EVERYONE. SB 6429 would NOT legalize suppressor use by private citizens. HB 1604 is the preferred bill, as it makes use of ALL lawfully-possessed suppressors legal.

SB 6473, by Senator Val Stevens (R-39), is the Senate companion bill to HB 2711.

No public hearings have been scheduled for gun bills in the coming week. However, past experience indicated close attention to this. Legislative hearing schedules are published on the Wednesday of the week prior to the hearings, to provide the legal advance notice and allow for time to plan to attend. Last minute changes are allowed, but are supposed to be only when unavoidable. Several years ago, a "gun show loophole" bill was NOT on the weekly schedule, but added later without the statutory advance notice. An oversight, maybe. Except that Washington Ceasefire published a message to its members, informing them of the hearing BEFORE the weekly schedule came out. I guess they must be clairvoyant.

BILL STATUS / GOAL POSITION ON BILLS:

Bill # Subject Sponsor Status

HB 1604 Firearm suppressors Condotta (R-12) H. Jud.

HB 2226 Retired peace officer qualification Orcutt (R-18) H. Jud

HB 2264 Gun show regulation Williams (D-22) H. Jud.

HB 2477 Gun sale liability Williams (D-22) H. Jud.

HB 2499 Black powder storage/transport Bailey (R-10) H. C&L

HB 2703 Sport shooting ranges Takko (D-19) H. Jud.

HB 2709 Firearms freedom act Shea (R-4) H. Jud.

HB 2711 Right to protection Shea (R-4) H. Jud.

SB 6396 So-called "assault weapon" ban Kline (D-37) S. Jud.

SB 6429 Suppressor use by police Brandland (R-42) S. Jud

SB 6473 Right to protection Stevens (R-39) S. Jud.

Key to abbreviations: HB = House Bill, SB = Senate Bill, H. Jud = House Judiciary, H. C&L = House Commerce & Labor

GOAL POSITION ON BILLS:

HB 1604 SUPPORT

HB 2226 SUPPORT

HB 2264 OPPOSE

HB 2477 OPPOSE

HB 2499 SUPPORT

HB 2703 SUPPORT

HB 2709 SUPPORT

HB 2711 EVALUATING

SB 6396 OPPOSE

SB 6429 EVALUATING

SB6473 EVALUATING

PUBLIC HEARINGS SCHEDULED:

NONE (at this time)

LEGISLATIVE HOT LINE: You may reach your Representatives and Senator by calling the Legislative Hotline at 1-800-562-6000. Toll free!!! The hearing impaired may obtain TDD access at 1-800-635-9993. Also toll free!!!

1-800-562-6000 TDD 1-800-635-9993

OTHER DATA: Copies of pending legislation (bills), legislative schedules and other information are available on the legislature's web site at "http://www.leg.wa.gov/". Bills are available in Acrobat (.pdf) format. You may download a free version of Adobe Acrobat Reader from Adobe's web site (http://www.adobe.com/). You may also obtain hard copy bills, initiatives, etc, in the mail from the Legislative Bill Room FREE OF CHARGE by calling 1-360-786-7573. Copies of bills may also be ordered toll free by calling the Legislative Hotline at (800) 562-6000. You may also hear floor and committee hearing action live at http://www.tvw.org/ (you need "RealAudio" to do this, available free at the TVW web site).

By reading the House and Senate "bill reports" (hbr, sbr) for each bill, you can see how individual committee members voted. By reading the "roll call" for each bill, you can see how the entire House or Senate voted on any bill. The beauty of the web site is that ALL this information is available, on line, to any citizen.

GET THE WORD OUT: If you want to subscribe to the GOAL Post by e-mail, send a message to mailto:jwaldron@halcyon.com. Please pass GOAL Post on to anyone you believe may have an interest in protecting our rights. Better yet, make a couple of copies of this message, post it on your gun club's bulletin board, and leave copies with your local gun shop(s). PERMISSION IS HEREBY GRANTED TO DUPLICATE OR REDISTRIBUTE GOAL POST PROVIDED IT IS REPRODUCED IN ITS ENTIRETY WITHOUT TEXTUAL MODIFICATION AND CREDIT IS GIVEN TO GOAL. I can be reached at mailto:jwaldron@halcyon.com. Unfortunately, I am unable to mail hard copy GOAL Post to individuals. Limited numbers of hard copies MAY be available at the Second Amendment Foundation book table at WAC gun shows.

NOTICE: If you believe you have received the GOAL Post in error, first check the "From" line in the address to determine if you received it directly or as part of a list. GP has both individual subscribers and list subscribers. If you do not wish to receive direct distribution of GOAL Posts, please send an e-mail to jwaldron@halcyon.com with "Remove GOAL Post" in the subject line. Please include in the body the address that sent you GP. If you received it as a list member (e.g. WA-CCW, WA-GUNS, etc), you must ask the list owner to be removed. I will respond directly to individual subscribers.

Upcoming WAC gun show(s):

Monroe 16-17 January

Monroe 13-14 February

Puyallup 20-21 February

"The right of the individual citizen to bear arms in defense of himself, or the state, shall not be impaired, but nothing in this section shall be construed as authorizing individuals or corporations to organize, maintain or employ an armed body of men."

Article 1, Section 24

Constitution of the State of Washington

Copyright 2010 Gun Owners Action League of WA

State senators attempt to justify assault weapon ban

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Changing views of gun control: Changes in laws

Yesterday, we discussed the Assault Weapon ban bill introduced in the Washington State Legislature recently.

The bill proposes to ban a wide category of firearms, primarily based on cosmetics. The writers say that it is based on the 1994 Clinton Assault Weapon ban. This ban was a decade-long Federal law which criminalized the sale of a number of firearms based on their cosmetics; later studies showed that it was ineffective in stopping crime.

Now State Senators Kohl-Welles and Kline have explained their rationale in the Everett Herald; through their explanation they have laid bare their ignorance on the subject.

They open their piece by alleging that "many semi-automatic assault rifles...can easily be converted to fully automatic with minor after-market modifications, and are often purchased with that purpose in mind." This myth has been circulating amongst the gun-banning crowd for years. The "easy" conversion takes the milling of several parts; kits are not available online. An FBI report showed the only 0.15% of 4,000 firearms confiscated in Los Angeles were converted; only 0.3% had any evidence of an attempt at conversion.

They point out that the bullets shot from semi-automatic guns can be as lethal as those shot from fully automatic guns. Compelling, but specious. Of course the bullets from semi-automatics can be as lethal as those shot from automatics guns, as can those shot from 200-year-old flintlocks or the blow from a sledgehammer. Centers for Disease Control data shows that In 2006, 121,599 people in accidents; 43,664 in car crashes, 20,823 in falls, 27,531 in poisoning. Each of these mechanisms were just as lethal as the next.

Passing a law like the assault weapons ban is a symbolic, purely symbolic move ... Its only real justification is notto reduce crime but to desensitize the public to the regulation of weapons in preparation for their ultimate confiscation." -- Charles Krauthammer, The Washington Post, April 5, 1996

40 police officers were killed by semi-automatic in the last 4 years they tell us. They use this as a reason to ban "assault weapons". By stretching the definition of assault weapons, they include this statistic in their argument. They fail to point out that most guns sold nation-wide are semi-automatics; they are the type of guns used by police officers. Most cars involved in crashes have automatic transmissions -- that is the type most commonly sold. Blaming the tool is a compelling argument, but ignores the problem of criminal behavior. Maurice Clemmons, the murderer of the Lakewood Police officers used a revolver to kill the first officers before he stole the gun of one of the officers.

This legislation was not introduced to limit the rights of responsible gun owners and is an important step toward ensuring the safety of our police and preventing future large-scale tragedies." -- Kohl-Welles and Kline

Actually, the truth is the rights of responsible gun owners are limited. Not only does their bill restrict the Second Amendment rights of responsible gun owners, but the bill requires that responsible gun owners give up their Fourth Amendment rights by allowing the sheriff to search their homes annually. Most would argue that taking away Fourth Amendment rights is a limit.

If this is an "important step" as the Senators say, then their journey only ends with a ban on all firearms, their true agenda.

As shown by studies after the Federal Assault Weapon Ban, restricting the sale of a gun based on cosmetics does not decrease crime. Kohl-Welles and Kline know that. If not, they should do their homework and find out.

Thoughts? Leave a COMMENT.

Want to follow the discussion? SUBSCRIBE to Tacoma Independent Examiner

GOAL Post 2010-1

GOAL Post 2010-1

Legislative Update from Olympia 8 January 2010

LEGISLATIVE SESSION TO CONVENE MONDAY, 11 JANUARY

HOW TO CONTACT YOUR LEGISLATORS

HOW A BILL BECOMES A LAW

CUT-OFF CALENDAR

HOLDOVERS FROM 2009 -- PREFILED BILLS

FIRST (PRO)GUN BILL SCHEDULED FOR A HEARING

2010 PROGNOSIS

The state legislature convenes Monday, 11 January, for a 60-day "short"
session (a longer, 105-day session is held during odd-numbered years).
Much of the attention this year will be focused on budgetary issues and
fixes or patches for the economy. Rest assured, however, time will be
set aside to take a look at firearms and laws regulating their use!

Once convened, the legislature does not take holidays off (MLK Day in
January, President's Day in February), although they do take most
weekends off to visit the home district and receive input from constituents.

Before each session starts, there is typically a reshuffle of offices as
assignments are changed, replacements are seated, etc. Telephone
numbers remain the same, by district, so if your Senator or one of your
Representatives has changed, the office telephone will be the same.
Your elected legislators and their contact information is available by
inserting your residence zip code at
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/DistrictFinder/Default.aspx

Combined House and Senate e-mail addresses are available at
https://dlr.leg.wa.gov/MemberEmail/Default.aspx

Several thousand bills are filed in a typical two-year legislative
biennium (in this case, 2009-2010). Bills that were filed but not acted
on last year may still be considered this year. In addition, new bills
are being filed daily. Only a small percentage of bills filed actually
make it to the Governor's desk for her signature or veto.

Getting a bill all the way to the governor is generally a five or six
step process. It must first be heard by the appropriate policy
committee (for firearms, usually the House or Senate Judiciary
Committees). If it passes out of the policy committee, it goes to the
Rules Committee where it awaits a floor vote by the entire chamber
(House or Senate). If it passes out of the original chamber, it then
goes across the capitol building to the other chamber, where it goes
through the committee and floor vote process again. (Bills that have a
fiscal impact must also be passed by the fiscal committee in each chamber.)

If a bill is modified in the second chamber (House bill in the Senate or
Senate bill in the House), it must receive a concurrence vote by the
original chamber or go to a conference committee for reconciliation,
then back for an concurrence vote by both chambers. Once all those
hurdles are passed, it's on its way to the governor. Now you can see
why only a fraction of bills make it all the way through the process.

A graphic depiction of the process is available at
http://www.leg.wa.gov/StudentsPage/Pages/bill2Law_elementary.aspx

One of the first items of business in each legislative session is
adoption of a cut-off calendar. The cut-off calendar establishes the
dates by which a bill must clear steps in the process. In most cases
(not always) if a bill does not pass it's cut-off date, it is considered
dead for the session. Exceptions are made occasionally, so the only
real cut-off date is when the legislature adjourns, this year at
midnight on Thursday, on March 11.

I'll post the cut-off dates in the next GOAL Post.

A few bills of interest from the last session remain and may or may not
be acted on. HB 1604 would allow use of lawfully registered suppressors
(current law allows lawful possession, but prohibits their use). HB
2226 improves the process that allows retired peace officers to carry
firearms nationwide (scheduled for a public hearing Monday, 11 January;
see information below). HB 2264 requires all firearm transfers at gun
shows be conducted (and papered) by a licensed dealer (FFL).

HB 2477, by Rep. Brendan Williams (D-22) would impose strict liability
standards against anyone who sells or transfers a firearm at a gun show
to a person who could not have passed a NICS check. (It's already a
criminal offense to KNOWINGLY transfer a firearm to a prohibited
person. The Williams bill does NOT include "knowingly.")

HB 2499, by Rep. Barbara Bailey (R-10) pre-filed a bill that relaxes the
limit on possession of black powder used in muzzle-loading firearms.
The bill increases the current limit of five pounds to 50 pounds.

Senator Adam Kline (D-37) and Rep. Ross Hunter (D-48) held a press
conference last month where they said they would introduce a bill
banning possession of so-called "assault weapons." Kline said the bill
will be similar to the 1994 Clinton gun ban, which wasn't really a ban
at all. He declined to share a copy of his draft with me. I expect the
bill will go far beyond the Clinton ban, just as his so-called a/w bill
from 2005 did: it bans all future possession, with a limited
grandfathering provision for those already in possession, IF you
register them with the local sheriff, pass a background check and pay a
registration fee -- annually.

2010 is an election year. That will have an impact on what bills pass
and those that die. According to an article in the Seattle Weekly
published shortly after the Kline/Hunter press conference, both Speaker
of the House Frank Chopp and House Majority Leader Lynn Kessler
expressed doubts about such a bill getting through their chamber. With
a large number of rural Democrats taking our side of the gun issue,
passing anti-gun bills is no sure thing, even in a legislature that's
2/3 controlled by Democrats. If your legislators are rural democrats,
be sure to contact them and give them your views on the various bills.
(Actually, you should all give your legislators your position on bills;
whether they choose to follow it or not is something for subsequent
discussion in November!)

*BILL STATUS / GOAL POSITION ON BILLS:*

Bill # Subject
Sponsor Status

HB 1604 Firearm suppressors Condotta (R-12)
H. Jud.

HB 2226 Retired peace officer qualification Orcutt (R-18) H. Jud

HB 2264 Gun show regulation Williams (D-22) H. Jud.

HB 2477 Gun sale liability Williams
(D-22) Unassigned

HB 2499 Black powder storage/transport Bailey (R-10)
Unassigned

Key to abbreviations: HB = House Bill, SB = Senate Bill, H. Jud = House
Judiciary,

GOAL POSITION ON BILLS:

HB 1604 SUPPORT

HB 2226 SUPPORT

HB 2264 OPPOSE

HB 2477 OPPOSE

HB 2499 SUPPORT

PUBLIC HEARINGS SCHEDULED:

Monday, 11 January 1:30 p.m. HB 2226

House Judiciary House Hearing Room "A" Obrien House Office Bldg

LEGISLATIVE HOT LINE: You may reach your Representatives and Senator by
calling the Legislative Hotline at 1-800-562-6000. Toll free!!! The
hearing impaired may obtain TDD access at 1-800-635-9993. Also toll free!!!

1-800-562-6000 TDD 1-800-635-9993

OTHER DATA: Copies of pending legislation (bills), legislative
schedules and other information are available on the legislature's web
site at "www.leg.wa.gov". Bills are available in Acrobat (.pdf)
format. You may download a free version of Adobe Acrobat Reader from
Adobe's web site (http://www.adobe.com/). You may also obtain hard copy
bills, initiatives, etc, in the mail from the Legislative Bill Room FREE
OF CHARGE by calling 1-360-786-7573. Copies of bills may also be
ordered toll free by calling the Legislative Hotline at (800) 562-6000.
You may also hear floor and committee hearing action live at
http://www.tvw.org/ (you need "RealAudio" to do this, available free at
the TVW web site).

By reading the House and Senate "bill reports" (hbr, sbr) for each bill,
you can see how individual committee members voted. By reading the
"roll call" for each bill, you can see how the entire House or Senate
voted on any bill. The beauty of the web site is that ALL this
information is available, on line, to any citizen.

GET THE WORD OUT: If you want to subscribe to the GOAL Post by e-mail,
send a message to "mailto:jwaldron%40halcyon.com". Please pass GOAL Post on to
anyone you believe may have an interest in protecting our rights.
Better yet, make a couple of copies of this message, post it on your gun
club's bulletin board, and leave copies with your local gun shop(s).
PERMISSION IS HEREBY GRANTED TO DUPLICATE OR REDISTRIBUTE GOAL POST
PROVIDED IT IS REPRODUCED IN ITS ENTIRETY WITHOUT TEXTUAL MODIFICATION
AND CREDIT IS GIVEN TO GOAL. I can be reached at
"mailto:jwaldron%40halcyon.com." Unfortunately, I am unable to mail hard copy
GOAL Post to individuals. Limited numbers of hard copies MAY be
available at the Second Amendment Foundation book table at WAC gun shows.

NOTICE: If you believe you have received the GOAL Post in error, first
check the "From" line in the address to determine if you received it
directly or as part of a list. GP has both individual subscribers and
list subscribers. If you do not wish to receive direct distribution of
GOAL Posts, please send an e-mail to mailto:jwaldron%40halcyon.com with "Remove
GOAL Post" in the subject line. Please include in the body the address
that sent you GP. If you received it as a list member (e.g. WA-CCW,
WA-GUNS, etc), you must ask the list owner to be removed. I will
respond directly to individual subscribers.

Upcoming WAC gun show(s):

Monroe 16-17 January

Monroe 13-14 February

Puyallup 20-21 February

"The right of the individual citizen to bear arms in defense of himself,
or the state, shall not be impaired, but nothing in this section shall
be construed as authorizing individuals or corporations to organize,
maintain or employ an armed body of men."

Article 1, Section 24

Constitution of the State of Washington

Copyright 2010 Gun Owners Action League of WA

__,_._,___